The present invention relates to kit buildings and more particularly to a folding truss utilized in erecting kit buildings.
Kit buildings have gained widespread popularity due to their low-cost provision of storage space. The most common and well-known kit building is the relatively small barn-shaped utility shed, which a consumer purchases and erects to store his lawn mower, gardening tools, and other lawn and garden implements and chemicals. A kit building is generally purchased in its collapsed, or unassembled, form wherein the entire unassembled kit requires a relatively small space for transportation and storage. Although collapsed, many of the elements of the kit are preferably interconnected to faciliate subsequent assembly by the consumer. The kits typically contain one or more folding trusses, each comprising two rafters pivotally interconnected by a structural connector. Such a truss can be compactly folded for transportation and subsequently easily set up by the consumer. The commercial success of a kit building depends in part on the ease with which the kit can be erected by the average consumer.
Known structural connectors for folding trusses are not without their disadvantages. One such connector is stamped, or cut, from a single sheet of metal and then carefully folded into a complex connector, including a ridge support member and two pockets hingedly connected thereto each for receiving a rafter. An example of such a connector is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,423,898, entitled ROOF FRAMING SYSTEM and issued Jan. 28, 1969, to Tracy et al. However, the connector is relatively expensive because of the relatively large amount of material required to form the connector and the excessive labor required to fold the material to form the connector. Consequently, the connector unduly increases the cost of the kit building.
Another connector includes a single sheet of material which is rigidly secured to one support member and pivotally secured to a second support member such that the first and second support members may be pivoted with respect to one another. An example of such a connector is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,355, entitled ROOF STRUCTURE and issued Sept. 20, 1971, to Solesbee. However, this connector requires excessive labor in the fabrication of the building kit due to the fact that a plurality of fasteners must be used to fixedly secure the connector to the nonpivotally joined rafter. If a plurality of fasteners is not used to join the connector to at least one support member, the connector can shift with respect to both support members to assume an undesired position, for example, protruding above the roof line or below the joist.
Yet another connector includes two separate pieces pivotally interconnected, each of which in turn receives a support member. An example of this type of connector may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,247, entitled STRUCTURAL CONNECTOR and issued Feb. 19, 1980, to Burwall. However, this two-piece connector is relatively expensive to fabricate because two pieces must be stamped and pivotally interconnected. This increases the cost of the resultant building kit.